Sharp Things

About This File

Single map for Ultimate Doom.

Created for the first Battle of the Bits Doom compo. In this spectacular adventure, you must wage a one-man war against a thorn bush in your backyard that happens to accidentally contain a portal to spiky hell. Time to break out the metaphorical weed whacker!

Created for the first Battle of the Bits Doom compo.
In this spectacular adventure, you must wage a one-man
war against a thorn bush in your backyard that happens
to accidentally contain a portal to spiky hell.
Time to break out the metaphorical weed whacker!

Additional Credits to : The #botb folks for being cool dudes

ShambleSides for accidentally introducing me to said
compo and cool dudes

Lexus Alyus for the music

Ravage (rf`), Eriance, and NaturalTvventy for textures

Cage for da sky

Memfis, for playtesting n' feedback

A stupid thorn in my stupid shoe for inspiration
===========================================================================
* What is included *

Game : Ultimate Doom
Map # : E1M1
Single Player : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player : Sure
Deathmatch 2-4 Player : No
Other game styles : No
Difficulty Settings : I totally forgot to do this again.

* Construction *

Base : I DID IT.
Build Time : A better portion of a day.
Editor(s) used : Doom Builder 2
May Not Run With... : Thorns. Because then you fall on them and hurt.

* Play Notes *

This map's long and potentially confusing, so here's a few tips I've left for the wary and stuck:

- Straferun!

This map requires the use of straferunning in order to complete, in order to grab the red key and to leap across a couple of gaps. For those not in the know, if you sidestep while running and move diagonally, you actually get a movement speed boost thanks to the way Doom's player movement physics work. Fun!

- How do I get the Red Key?

Assuming you've made it to the crazy ruby n' void castle, chances are you're trying to hit those lift switches and can't make it in time; never fear, there's a combination of switches that works, though you'll have to hit the shorter one twice. Use your ingenuity. ;)

- How do I get out of the Red Key castle?

The doors bar you in once you enter, but once you nab the red key, they open.

- Where the bloody hell is the blue key?

In the SE corner of the big courtyard, there's a spiral staircase leading to a vine-encrusted circular platform. In this area, there's a switch on the 'S' shaped wall in the middle that raises a bunch of jaggedy-toothed platforms in the nearby skin-metal wall outside; traverse along these and you'll wind up at the blue key perch.

Do note that you can walk through the vines. Have at it!

- What about that yellow?

It may look out of reach, but what you're looking for is a teleporter in the NE side of the map that will take you to the southernmost fenced-in ledge where that soulsphere perch is opposite the yellow key. Once you arrive, you'll stumble across a switch that will reverse the direction of the stairs at the base of the key, allowing you to reach it. You'll have to take another route to get there, but there's a handy shortcut nearby if you keep your eyes peeled.

- Okay, I've got all three keys and raised all these funny platforms. Now what?

It's a bridge of sharp things! There's a lift in the west side of the northern "cathedral" that lets you get a running start out a window onto the first sharp thing, then you've got to run along until you reach the end, which will take you to the exit. It's a bit tricky to navigate, but rewarding once it's done. And wicked cool. So I think. D:

- What's with all the plasma?

Plasma is cool.

- Can I trade it for a BFG?

Nope. Plasma is cooler.

* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY NOT use the contents of this file as a base for modification or
reuse. That'd be rather unsportsmanlike.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no
modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS,
Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.

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we need more good Ultimate Doom wads. this was nice, plasma gun combat at first, when it opens up, it's chaotically good. the three keys weren't that hard to figure out, although the puzzle for the red key stands out the most. some nice and sharp (yes) ideas overall.

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I'm usually a fan of Xaser's stuff but this isn't one of them. Maneuverability is my biggest complaint with this map. I don't think strafe running should be mandatory to reach anything (admittedly I'm an average player; when strafe running is mandatory for anything I just cheat and jump, like I did with getting to the red skull key). Getting to the exit was also an exercise in frustration and I just jumped my way from platform to platform to get to it after several tries at strafe running.

For other people, this is easily a solid 4-star or even 5-star map. For me though, it's a 3-star map.

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File Reviews

I guess this was meant to be a serious wad, just using a trick to make the C-Demon hard to see. I don't think it was a deliberate troll of the style that caught on later, eg Sand Chain and the Terry wads. IMHO it nowhere near holds the record for "worst wad ever" (even if it did once) so it is now "over-rated" in that respect. I was a bit disappointed, I was expecting worse LoL.

Doomers these days have varying levels of patience. I know I have some of the worst when it comes to quickly finishing areas and moving on, which is why I prefer shorter levels most of the time. this particular map, a Maximum Doom map by the way, is one that completely tested my patience.
this is 8 levels long, from E1M1 to E1M8, and is sort of a proto-slaughtermap episode replacement. every map here has at least 200 monsters, and the layouts of each say that they are compact in size. so the action would be pretty good and fun right?
WRONG
while it's fun to kill all these enemies, this is honestly horribly balanced. on the first level, you only really get a shotgun and a chaingun, and it took me a while to get just one armor too. is that the worst part? I can actually enjoy the challenge of such a gameplay scenario so no. what's problematic about each and every level in this wad is that when you're not killing enemies, you're just sort of fucking around. in other words, you're switch hunting. but this is the worst kind due to lifts that have zero indications that they are lifts, as well as switches that have zero indication of what they did. not to mention some walls are triggers, when they really don't have any indication that they really do anything. oh yes, and mandatory secrets and backtracking. I would like the combat more if it gave more weapons too, not one plasma gun or BFG in sight, and all that backtracking just...fucking...headdesk. there's no reliable way to even speedrun this, to the point where I wonder if the author ever realized that other's would tire the fuck out over it. "these are the easy ones" this has all the hallmarks of a bad Maximum Doom map.
it's amazing how varied my Maximum Doom experience is so far. there are some really fun maps, mediocre but quick maps, and some long and nasty ones. I'm honestly trying to avoid reviewing any maps from there but i'll make an exception for this particular one since it's just unbelievably bad.

More an exercise in 3-d artwork than a game. Just someone's bedroom with a HK in a tiny lobby outside the door, and a Caco in a tiny yard outside the window. A BFG and Invisibilty Sphere are also in the yard but you can't get out there. I think the name is a clue - maybe this was the start of a bigger level, then abandoned. He ought to have allowed it as a base for development.